An occupancy policy must be reasonable; two persons per bedroom is a starting point, not a safe harbor

xp.fair_housing.occupancy_policy_must_be_reasonable · v1.0.0

An owner may adopt an occupancy policy limiting the number of persons per unit, and the Fair Housing Act does not limit the applicability of reasonable local, state or federal restrictions on the maximum number of occupants. HUD's enforcement policy treats a policy of two persons in a bedroom as reasonable AS A GENERAL RULE, but expressly states that the reasonableness of any occupancy policy is rebuttable and that compliance will not be determined solely by the number of people permitted in each bedroom. HUD will consider the size and number of bedrooms, the overall size of the unit, the configuration of the unit, the age of the children, and other special circumstances. A policy applied so as to exclude or unreasonably limit families with children is familial status discrimination.

Confidence

high

Effective from

1998-12-18

Last reviewed

2026-08-31